Combined cover and ladle



E. L. CONDON.

COMBINED COVER AND LADLE.

APPLICATION mu) JAN-7,1920.

1,391,371. PatentedSept- 20,1921.

"In-"m.

[in/e27???- 1'; oil 710 07; CAE M a Z'lariiqgu UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE.

manner 1.. coupon, or runway, MASSACHUSETTS, assrenoa 'ro mum sona roummm comrm, or nosron, MASSACHUSETTS, a coaronarion or MASSA- CHUSETTS.

COMBINED COVER AND LADLE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept, 20, 1921.

- Application filed January I, 1920. Serial No. 849,898.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST L. CoNnoN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Medway, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Combined Covers and Ladles, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to a combination cover and ladle for a receptacle particularly designedfor use at soda fountains. Receptacles or jars for crushed fruits and similar materials served at soda fountains, are commonly made with covers, and ordinary ladles are used for serving. If the ladle has a long enough handle to be convenient of access and to keep from slippin down into the receptacle, it interferes wit the proper closing of the cover and also re uires the dispenser to use both hands (un ess the cover is first laid down) one to remove and hold the cover and the other to manipulate the ladle. If the ladle handle is short enough to permit the cover to close, it must necessarily be wholly within the receptacle and is not only inconvenient to reach, but also is sure to become soiled.

The principal objects of the present invention are to rovide a combination ladle and cover whic can be manipulated both together with one hand, which at all times affords a clean handle for the dispenser to seize, and which insures the most advan-' tageous position of the ladle for serving the contents of the receptacle.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figures 1 and 2 represent respectively a lan view and vertical section of the combined cover and ladle ap lied to a receptacle for crushed fruits an the like, suitable for use at soda fountains.

A represents the receptacle, preferably made of glass or porcelain with a round bottom and a supporting flange 0 at the to to rest upon a counter, shelf, or the like, with the body of the receptacleextending through an aperture in the counter. The receptacle has an opening in the top ofiset from the center, and surrounded by a rim or flange a.

Fitting over the opening of the receptacle is a cover C having a down-turned li a to fit around the rim a. the upper side of the cover is secured a handle D, which is preferably of loop form and higher at the end toward the center of the rece tacle than at the other end, the better to con orm to the normal position of the hand of the user.

Secured to the underside of the cover and dependin therefrom is a ladle consisting of the bowl and shank F. The end of the shank'extends through the .cover C and is inset into one of the bases of the handle thus insuring a strong and rigid anchorage of the ladle to the cover. The ladle is fixed at an inclined angle to the cover, so that its bowl E will be offset from the center of the receptacle, in the direction of the offset of the receptacle opening, and somewhat tipped, as illustrated in Fig. 2. From this position, when the user lifts the cover by the handle D, the left hand edge of the cover will naturally be lifted a little in advance of the right hand edge and the bowl of the ladle will be drawn through the contents of the receptacle, starting from near one side and swinging toward the other side. Thus the natural motion of the ladle will be substantially similar to that of an ordinary ladle held in the hand, and the bowl will be sure to be filled. When the cover is replaced, the ladle will automatically assume the correct position near one side of the receptacle for the next similar operation.

By using the loop form of handle D, and anchoring the shank F of the ladle at an inclination to the cover in substantially the same vertical plane with the handle, and at the base of the higher end of the loop, a number of advantages are attained in addition to the mere convenience of a loop handle for manipulation of the device, and

the strength of construction inherent in anchoring the shank to'the base of the handle. The normal mode of grasping the handle and removing the cover will, not only swing the ladle-through 'the receptacle, as already mentioned, but when the ladle is filled and lifted out of the rece tacle the bowl which is substantially norma to the stem will be level, and will not be concealed from the relationshi position 0 the ladle, the dispenser would 'the ladle being The construction shown moreover-insures lifted out of the receptz le in correct position for pouring its contents into a las or dish, because there is but one natura and normal way to grasp the handle D, and in that position the bowl of the ladle extends in the proper and-natural direction for ouring or servin whereas if the handle were a round kno or of some other form not calculated'to insure any particular of the hand of the user to the ft the ladle out without knowing in which direction the bowl of the ladle would extend, and would usually find it in an extremely awkward position for serving.

The attachment of the shank F to a point offset from the center of the cover, and the inclination of the ladle, also result in a nicely balanced structure, such that the cover and ladle could, be lifted out if desired by one fin r passed through the loop handle.

clalm:

1. A cover for a receptacle having a ladle depending from its under side, said ladle comprising a shank and a bowl, and an elongated handle extending transversel across the top of the cover, the axis of t e ladle shank lying in the vertical plane of said handle. I

2. A cover for a rece tacle havin a loop handle on its u per si e and a lad e on its under side, sai ladle comprising a shank and a bowl, the end of the shank of the ladle extending through thevcover and into. one

of the bases of the handle, said shank depending from the coverat an inclined angle and crossing the axis of the'receptacle.

3. A cover for a receptacle having on its upper side a loop handlecomprising an .ele-

ment which slo es from one end toward the 4. A cover for a rece tacle having on its upper side a loop hand e hi her at one end than at-the other, and a lad e-comprising a asap-h .shank deplending from a inton the under "side of t e cover imm iately underneath the base of the higher end of the handle, said shank bei inclined to the axis of the receptacle and yin in the same vertical plane with the han e, and a bowl secured to said shank and so constructed and'arranged that the plane of its upper edge is substan- Y the ladle is directed. 4

6. In combination, a receptacle having an.

tacle that upon removal of the cover the dip-' ping edge of the bowl is caused to sweep across the axis of the receptacle.

7. In combination a receptacle having an opemng 1n the top, a cover fitti over said opening, and a ladle depending into the rece tacle from the under side of said cover, said ladle comprising a shank secured to said cover adjacent one ed thereof and normally crossing the axis 0 the receptacle 'edge wholly to one side of the axis of the receptacle and directed toward such axis.

8. Incombination a receptacle having an openin in its top offset from the center, a cover ttin over said opening, and a ladle on the un er side of the cover depending into the receptacle at an inclined'angle to the cover with its bowl offset from the center of the receptacle in the direction of-the offset of the receptacle 0 ening.

Signed by me at this 30 day of December, 1919.

. ERNEST L. CONDON.

oston, Massachusetts,

- and a bowl su ported near the lower end of 

